The present invention relates to interactive image reproduction machines, and more particularly reproduction machines for performing various operations on text or images during the creation of a new document.
It is common for office workers and others who work with documents on a regular basis to have effectively two desks, the "electronic desktop" provided by a workstation or personal computer by means of a graphical interface, and the physical desk on which paper documents are received and processed.
The electronic desktop, which has become more and more like the physical one, can perform numerous useful operations on documents stored in electronic form; but in dealing with tangible documents such devices have limitations. A paper document must either be converted into electronic form before the operations are performed on it in the electronic environment, or copying operations are carried out on the tangible document using an electrophotographic copier (such as a photocopier with an editing function) or a combined scanning and printing device, the available functions of which are restricted in nature.
GB-A-2243970 discloses an electronic apparatus for the composition of photographic (video) images, comprising two video screens and means allowing an operator to interact with the apparatus to select stored images of product parts from a first screen and place the selected images in designated areas on the second screen to form an image of a new, complete product.
EP-A-242257 discloses an apparatus for aiding insertion of electronic components in a printed circuit board, in which a camera above a work surface is used to capture and display images of a circuit on the work surface by means of a video screen.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,440 discloses a photocopier system for combining plural image segments taken from a series of different documents and printing the series of image segments as a composite image on a common copy sheet. The documents are sequentially scanned in, and the results of page creation and edit functions may be previewed on a display screen.
EP-B-167,342 discloses a document image editing device in which cut and paste operations on scanned images are facilitated interactively via a CRT and light pen device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,694 discloses an apparatus and method for remote displaying and sensing of images in which a scanning beam display system is used as a projection display and as a reflective flying spot scanner using a plurality of photoreceptors to sense depth. This allows projection of a document-size image from overhead onto a work surface.
EP-A-25,741 discloses a televisual communication system for graphical image creation, in which images are projected through a dichroic mirror below a user's work surface, and the image appearing on the mirror is captured by an imaging device.
In Wellner, P., "The Digital Desk Calculator", Proceedings of ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '91), 11-13 Nov. 1991, there is disclosed a system for implementing a desktop calculator, including a camera and video projector mounted above a desk. The system allows a user to interact with a large projected (2-D) calculator on the desk so as to perform calculations on numbers in documents on the desktop.
It is known from EP-A-495 622 to use a camera-projector arrangement positioned above a desk, in order to select functions to be performed by selecting items located within the field of view of the camera. Such functions include calculating and translating operations carried out on data (e.g., in a paper document) located on the desk.